A tract of 103,527 acres was established by an acted dated February 18, 1801 for persons from British Canada who fled south to aid the American cause during the Revolutionary War. In Columbus, the Refugee Tract lies approximately between Fifth Avenue, on the north, and Refugee Road, on the south, running from the Scioto River (west of downtown Columbus) east 42 miles. What is currently Bexley falls within the Refugee Tract.

Image courtesy of  William Peters – Peters, William E. (1918) Ohio Lands and Their Subdivisions, W.E. Peters, p. 286, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11166109